Skip to content
Business
Link copied to clipboard

Business news in brief

Hollie Blake shouts during a protest outside the Bank of America shareholders meeting in Charlotte, N.C. (Chuck Burton / Associated Press)
Hollie Blake shouts during a protest outside the Bank of America shareholders meeting in Charlotte, N.C. (Chuck Burton / Associated Press)Read more

In the Region

Sunoco Logistics buys refinery

Sunoco Logistics Partners L.P., the energy pipelines and terminal operator, has acquired the former Sunoco refinery in Marcus Hook for $60 million and plans to develop it into a "world class" hub for shipping natural gas liquids from the Marcellus and Utica Shale formations. The site has deepwater berths, rail access, pipeline connections, and five caverns for storing materials like propane and butane. The sale was essentially an in-house transaction. Sunoco is owned by Energy Transfer Partners L.P., of Dallas, which is also the general partner of Sunoco Logistics. - Andrew Maykuth

No night closing for airport towers

Seventy-two airport towers and other air traffic control facilities that were slated to close at night due to budget cuts will get to stay open, the Federal Aviation Administration said. The FAA announced earlier this year that it would eliminate midnight shifts of air traffic controllers at 69 towers - including at Atlantic City International - and two regional approach control facilities to meet across-the-board automatic spending cuts required by Congress. The elimination of midnight shifts was separate from the FAA's furloughs of controllers last month and pending plans to close towers at 149 small airports. - AP

Fluoride rinse maker expanding

Medical Products Laboratories Inc. has been approved for a $472,500 loan with an interest rate of 1.5 percent through the Pennsylvania Industrial Development Authority to help buy a building near its operations in the Bustleton section of Philadelphia. The privately held company will buy an existing building as part of a $1.03 million project that will create 14 jobs and retain 148 employees, according to a statement by the Corbett administration. Medical Products Laboratories calls itself one of the largest U.S. manufacturers of fluoride mouth rinses used in schools. - Mike Armstrong

Shellpoint to issue securities

Shellpoint Partners L.L.C., the home lender backed by mortgage-bond pioneer Lewis Ranieri, said the Securities and Exchange Commission approved a registration filing that will allow it to issue securities. The step permits the New York-based firm to sell as much as $2 billion of home-loan bonds without government backing. Shellpoint's bonds would be backed by mortgages made or bought by its Plymouth Meeting-based New Penn Financial L.L.C. unit, according to the statement. - Bloomberg News

Delaware banker pleads guilty

Joseph Terranova, 45, former vice president in Wilmington Trust's commercial real estate unit, faces up to five years in prison and $250,000 in fines after pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit fraud for his role in loan losses leading up to the financial collapse of Delaware's largest bank. Federal prosecutor Charles M. Oberly 3d said in a statement that Terranova "conspired to extend credit to customers of the bank under terms inconsistent with those approved by the bank's loan committee." Terranova and unnamed bank officers also conspired to keep hundreds of millions of dollars in late and unpaid loans from proper disclosure to examiners, shareholders and others, according to the government. It was unclear from the information whether other Wilmington Trust employees will be charged. Through a spokeswoman, Oberly would not comment. Pennsylvania-based former Wilmington Trust lender Kevin McAllister was sentenced to 20 months in prison in February for his role in frauds that cost the bank $2.5 million. - Joseph N. DiStefano

Penn Virginia narrows 1Q loss

Penn Virginia Corp., the Radnor energy company focusing on the prolific Eagle Ford oil-shale formation in Texas, reported a $3 million first-quarter operating loss on Wednesday, a slight improvement over the $3.4 million loss a year ago. The company also boosted its 2013 production and revenue guidance from projections it made in early April. Production is expected to be from 6.7 million to 7.3 million barrels of oil equivalent, compared with 6.5 million to 7.2 million barrels; crude oil production is expected to increase by 60 percent to 78 percent over 2012 levels, compared with previous guidance of 57 percent to 76 percent growth. Product revenues are expected to be $414 million to $469 million, compared to previous guidance of $403 million to $447 million. - Andrew Maykuth

Elsewhere

Freddie Mac earns $4.6B in quarter

Mortgage giant Freddie Mac earned $4.6 billion from January through March, helped by a stronger housing market. The government-controlled company has turned a profit in the last six quarters. Freddie said it will pay a dividend of $7 billion to the U.S. Treasury next month and requested no additional federal aid for the fourth consecutive quarter. The earnings compared with net income of $577 million in the first quarter of 2012. - AP

Bank of America CEO pressed at shareholder meeting

Demonstrators protested outside the Bank of America Corp. headquarters during the annual shareholders meeting in Charlotte, N.C. Bank of America needs to show a steady stream of profit before satisfying demands for a higher dividend, CEO Brian T. Moynihan said at the meeting. The bank, swamped by costs tied to defective mortgages, has posted only four quarterly profit increases since Moynihan became CEO in 2010. Investors pressed him on when the dividend would be increased from its current one cent per quarter. The payout was reduced to that amount during the financial crisis when the bank obtained a $45 billion U.S. bailout, which has been repaid. Bad mortgages and related legal costs were the main drags on first-quarter results, and Moynihan said his job was to get those "down to zero." - Bloomberg News